Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures {Review and Giveaway}

We all know that being a parent is a tough job filled with highs and lows, but let’s face it, talking about the lows can be a whole bunch funnier. We veteran parents can connect while talking about projectile vomit, children’s tantrums, and the desire to use the bathroom all alone, and this formula has been the key to large followings for many a parenting blogger. Amber Dusick took it one step further by adding in some amateurish drawings to accompany her posts, called the whole thing Crappy Pictures, and she’s been cracking up the blogosphere every since. Now readers can find her humor in book form with Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures.

Dusick hits on the big topics that will resonate with moms and dads alike. Do you remember what sleep was like before having a child? Have you tried to feed an infant while also attempting to eat your own dinner? Ever take a road trip with the kids in the back seat? Dusick’s take on these experiences include hysterical images of a sleepless night next to a nursing child and a zonked out husband, little bits of dropped food on a baby, and a family peeing on the side of the road. Seriously. Lots of fodder for hilarity here, and the pictures give her stories that little extra oomph in the laughs department.

Storytelling comes naturally to Dusick, and with each story that she shares, readers will find themselves nodding their heads in agreement, because there’s so much that is universal about having young children! Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures is Dusick’s hilarious blog in book form, a fun read filled with laughs.

Ready to giggle? We have one copy of Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures to giveaway to a humor-appreciative reader. Follow the directions in the Rafflecopter below to enter, US or Canada mailing addresses only, please.

5 Minutes for Books contributor Dawn understands is always up for a good laugh about this roller coaster ride that is parenting. She tells her own crappy stories (albeit without drawings) on her blog, my thoughts exactly.

Comments

My kids make me laugh pretty much daily… but I do also have a humorous memory of when my older daughter was a baby and had a poop-explosion all the way up her back and all over her onesie. That in itself wasn’t funny, but the fact that I took a picture and emailed it to my husband led to a good laugh at his reaction!

Many events that are memorable and special. One that was great. Attending a party when my son was young and an older woman asked how old he was and he answered, and then started to walk away, but decided to ask the woman her age.

I could write a book about the funniest moments I have had! One of which was when I was waiting at the back of a new church with my sweet bundle of joy, so I could quietly hear the end of the message in peace- I was standing near the back doors- for some reason (greeting) the Pastor came and stood in the back while my daughter simultaneously let out the loudest,longest, most explosive poop that I have ever heard to this date. All the while making the most hilarious faces. Did I mention the church was small and it was silent…but for the rumbly sounds from the back of the church. Ack. Etched in my memory forever. Would love to read!

Not too long ago we were having a discussion about body parts. My girls have always known they have a butt and a “pee pee” (As the 2 year old likes to yell loudly-everywhere!) They started asking what the difference was between boy pee pees and girl pee pees were. I didn’t want to go into too much detail but the oldest is getting to the age where she asks alot more questions. (they are 5,3, and 2) So I told them girls pees pees look like ours and are called vaginas. Boy pees pees look like daddys and are called a penis. At this they started cracking up laughing. When I asked what was so funny the 5 yo tells me “Mommy why is it called that? Its a funny name! Its Hilarious!!” LOL

Lets see.. we were visiting family in NY and were out to eat and someone said how my son looks like his great uncle when he was younger and my son (just turned 3 at the time) said “NO I dont, because I don’t have hair on my face” (His great uncle has a beard.) It was so funny the way he said it!

When my oldest was very young, maybe 4, I gave her a cup to use but noticed it looked cracked and said so. She replied that it was crazed, not cracked and she was correct! I’m thinking where on Earth did she come up with that?

We’re in the potty training stage right now. My daughter pooped and was very excited that it looked like a tree (standing straight up in her potty chair). When it was dumped in the toilet, it obviously wasn’t standing up anymore, and she got very sad and said her poop tree was broken and she wanted to make a new one. Who knew poop could be so amusing?!?

Public vomiting seems funny to anyone that it’s not happening to. My 22 month old just did that on (not at) the register at Trader Joe’s. Awesome. You should have seen the lady’s face that was behind me in line though. THAT was funny!

One favorite funny and sweet parenting moment was grocery shopping with my daughters when they were three. (Twins) The shopping cart had a car attached to the front and they rode, singing the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang theme song as we shopped through the Whole. Entire. Store. I was smiling, they were smiling, other patrons and the check-out person were smiling. It was a fun grocery trip.

Oops I commented before I saw the “question” – my funniest parenting moment so far was when my son (~16 months) went with me to the farmers market and whenever we stopped at a booth he started trying to take any produce stacked at his level and load it into my bag one by one – he was so cute!

I love the way kids talk when they are still acquiring language. Some of my favorite, funny parenting moments are about when kids misspeak, like how both my boys called their bikes ‘bikeayan’ (bike + Thai word ‘jakayan’)

I love to tease my 14 yr old son. Whenever I drop him off at Jr. High, I love to holler out the window when he is surrounded by classmates an array of things like;
I love you!!!!!
Be a good boy!!
Be nice to everyone!!
I will miss you!!

My favorite parenting moment is just listening to my daughter speak. The way she mispronounces everything. A bathing suit is “baby soup” and being invisible is being “vibber”. That vibber one took MONTHS to figure out. Seriously she would talk about being vibber all the time. I had tons of people asking me what it was all about and only last week did it occur to me that she was being sneaky and INVISIBLE. crazy kid. Amber’s blog is hilarious and we all need more laughter in our homes. I think this book is a MUST have.

I used to have my daughter harass my husband when he was in the bathroom for 20 minutes pooping. I would have her go to the door and yell at the top of her lungs, “DADDY!!! ARE YOU POOPING?!?!?”. I did this as revenge for his “pooping” time which was really him escaping to the bathroom for 20 minutes of You Tube videos and alone time. Which I never ever get in the bathroom. What mom does, really?

The most recent funny moment was when my 18 month old and 3 yr old were running around naked together screaming ‘I’m naked!’ One in clear english, the other in toddlereese.. when my darling 18 month old comes up to me, with arms outstretched in what I thought to be a request for a hug, so I bent over from the sink to return the hug, and got my pants pulled down, a big grin and a happy, “Mummy nekkid too!!”

We began EC-ing our baby right from the start and when he was less than a month old, we were giving him diaper free time in our arms in our kitchen and he had an enormous pooplosion. While DH was cleaning it up, I moved to a different part of the kitchen, and DS had another one. And then a third one! There was sooooo much poop, I could hardly believe it could all fit inside such a small baby. And I think the funniest part was not that it was covering the kitchen floor, but the reaction and noises of disgust coming from my husband as he was mopping it up. Thank you for the giveaway!

Funniest parenting experience so far…I have to pick one? Hmm. Well, I made some chocolate chip cookies last week. My three year old was in and out of the kitchen. I really didn’t notice him unless he was underfoot. I was scooping more dough onto a cookie sheet. I had just put the second batch on the racks to cool. I was putting 12 scoops onto each cookie sheet. There were 11 cookies on the cooling racks. Wait!! 11 cookies?? I know I put 12 cookies on the racks to cool. Suddenly, a little voice from the living room said, “Mmm, yummy.” That little stinker had taken a cookie without my knowledge. That little stinker. And then, I laughed. It was that little voice from the other room that made me laugh.

The first diaper change as new parents taught us- never change a baby boy in your lap with him lying face up. We had a baby pee fountain spraying in the prettiest arch as the cloth diaper was unpinned. Whee!

My kids crack me up almost daily, but of course now that I’m trying to remember a good example, I can’t think of any! My 3 year old likes to make up songs about things, which is always amusing & often to do with poop!

I was shocked when my newborn managed to explode a poop all over me while I was changing her diaper. I thought pee was the only thing that could cover your clothes while a babies diaper was off. I laughed cause there really wasn’t anything else to do.

Hmmm – my son wanted to ride his balance bike when it stopped raining. Daddy said “OK, but keep your feet out of the puddles.” So my son would bike through the puddles, straddling them with his feet stuck way out to the sides.

So many funny experiences, and I can’t call 1 to mind that would be “funniest”. Reading the other comments I’m remembering the time my 1 month old was nursing, husband was at work. My parents were visiting, but my father was out. So anyways, hes nursing and all the sudden, I get this warm feeling. You know, all over my stomach and legs…EBF poo all down me- had leaked out the leg hole of the diaper! My mom was about to step into the shower, literally, was stepping in, and I scream “MOM! I NEED YOU!”. She runs in with nothing but her bathrobe and I’m like “he pooped on me!” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

Our little guy started saying “hi” to everyone and it’s always fun when he says “hi” to someone who looks grumpy and it suddenly puts a smile on their face. It reminds me that no matter how we feel, we’re just one cute little “hi” away from a smile.

Once we had some family members over for dinner and while we were eating, my husband’s brother made an off-the-cuff comment that we all laughed at. My 5 year old, who’s always trying to fit in with the adults by engaging in conversation and using big words and such, laughed and said, “Oh, uncle Ron, you’re dickless.” (which is how he says “ridiculous”)

Not sure what my funniest moment ever is, but recently my kids want to play musical chairs with “Call me maybe” (they play it at my daughters gymnastics class) and one day the 2 year old started singing “call me” as he danced around the chairs.

I don’t know what the *funniest* moment has been, but my kids crack me up regularly. Like last night when my daughter came out of her bedroom, ready for her shower and exclaimed, “I’m all naked balls!”

My funniest parenting moment was when my son was brand new and some friends came over to see him. While the husband was holding our brand new sweet sleeping baby, he blew his toot horn as loud as a full grown mountain man! I was crying I was laughing so hard. Best part was the he never even woke up.

The first time my daughter pooped on the potty was pretty great. The humor came when she ran exuberantly to my husband and yelled, “I pooped in the potty! I pushed and it went PLOP!!” The look on his face was pretty priceless.

When my two toddlers were playing a game at the table and began calling each other little f&*#ers…husband and I about fell over because they hadn’t (honestly) heard that from either of us. Then we burst out laughing. Angelic kids with trash mouths. Thank goodness it was only us around.

My kids are pretty much constantly funny. Mostly in the laugh or it’ll drive you insane kind of way.

My big guy was a micropreemie, and developed pretty bad reflux issues. He was a spitup faucet. When he got a bit bigger he was up to having about 6 oz of milk at a time, and sometimes he’d spit up half or more of what he ate, especially if he wasn’t upright after eating. Daddy fed him and put him down for tummy time – big mistake! My little guy projection puked all over the place and it just kept coming! It wasn’t the puke that was funny, it was Daddy totally freaking out! Ha!

I love their nicknames, and the pictures too! This book inspires to take parenting creatively and with fun! Having twins, I hardly have any time left to enjoy “the moment” – and this book reminds about how unique each moment of our life is.

One of the funniest moments – one of my 11-month old boys learned to say “fall” when he drops something. So when he is sitting in my hands and wants to go to the floor, he looks down and says “fall”!

When my daughter was younger and we were at the store, I turned to get my debit card out of my purse. She was sitting in the front of the cart. I swipe my card and pay, and I turned around to see she wasn’t going to hand me a little toy we’d picked out…she handed me a booger.

What comes to my mind is when my son was 6 and asked what was for dinner – I said I wasn’t sure yet. He farted and said, eat that for dinner! I was floored! My jaw dropped and and I burst into inappropriate laughter – we do NOT speak like that!

My hubby & I brought our daughter home and it was time to tackle her first bath…we got everything set up and then got her in the water…she was all cleaned and ready to get out when she decided to poop. And it wasn’t just a poop, it was a spray across the room and go everywhere poop. Was a terrible first bath experience but one we’ll always remember and laugh about. Thankfully it didn’t hit either of us but the cat wasn’t so lucky!!

The day my son shot poop across the room while the NICU nurse was trying to change him was hilarious. The expression on her face was priceless and all she could say was “Oh!” Surprisingly, he didn’t hit any of us but had to get a new (read: clean) crib.

Almost every day my daughter does something that makes me laugh. And I always have to laugh at myself and the oh-so-many mistakes I’ve made along the way. Some funny smaller moments include when we can hear her passing gas in her sleep through the monitor and when she has gone to the bathroom on my husband (never on me though!) I love Crappy Pictures and would love to win this book!

The little one had a new friend over and wanted to introduce him to his Father. Dad, however, was using the washroom ( seated ). Frustrated that he couldn’t find me, he was at last exulted when he opened the bathroom door and said, “THAT’S my Dad!”

One of my funniest parenting moments was when I was pregnant with my second son. My first would run up to me randomly and pull up my shirt so he could pat my belly and say “hi bro!”. He started doing it to his dad which we thought was cute, but then he started running up to everyone in sight and try to yank up their shirts to pat their bellies. Then he ran up to a lady in church who was wearing a short dress and tried to pull it up to pat her belly. That didn’t go over so well lol and to top it off her husband commented that maybe it was a sign she shouldn’t be wearing short dresses to church.

I have 10 month old identical twin boys. The funniest parenting experience I have so far was easily watching my husband change one of them when they were around 3 months old. Who knew babies could projectile poop? My husband was jumping around trying to control the chaos, gagging uncontrollably, while I stood by laughing so hard I was crying. =)

I totally missed the part about telling a story… Let’s see.
I almost decided to poop in a diaper on a road trip home once…. Both my two year old and six month old fell asleep within 20 minutes of a 2 hour drive home, and I needed to go soooo badly but refused to wake them up to haul them into a nasty gas station so I literally spent the whole trip debating finding a secluded area in which to squat and run, or pulling out a diaper and using it as a disposable toilet. Thank GOD I made it home.

As a nanny I have had the joys of experiencing parenthood-like situations without actually being the parent… kids are so funny and so amazing to learn from! I can’t wait to have the troublesome yet rewarding experience of parenthood with my hubby! My sister is due in May and this would be a hilarious gift for her.

Please enter me in your giveaway.
It would be great to win a copy of Parenting:Illustrated with Crappy Pictures.
In response to your question of
What’s the funniest parenting experience you’ve had?
I remember once when my niece was trying to make breakfast.
She ended up making a huge mess in the kitchen and all over herself.
It wasn’t fun to clean up but she looked funny with flour and eggs all over herself.
Thank you for having this giveaway!!!!!!